Tyranny

Are you not from eternity, O LORD, my holy God, immortal? O LORD, you have marked him for judgment. O Rock, you have readied him punishment! Too pure are your eyes to look upon evil, and the sight of misery you cannot endure. Why, then, do you gaze on the faithless in silence while the wicked man devours one more just than himself? 

You have made man like the fish of the sea, like creeping things without a ruler. He brings them all up with his hook, he hauls them away with his net, He gathers them in his seine; and so he rejoices and exults. Therefore, he sacrifices to his net, and burns incense to his seine; for thanks to them his portion is generous, and his repast sumptuous. 

Shall he, then, keep on brandishing his sword to slay peoples without mercy? I will stand at my guard post, and station myself upon the rampart, And keep watch to see what he will say to me, and what answer he will give to my complaint.

Then the LORD answered me and said: Write down the vision Clearly upon the tablets, so that one can read it readily. For the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint. If it delays, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not be late. The rash man has no integrity; but the just man, because of his faith, shall live. (Habakkuk 1:12 – 2:4)

Listening to the prophets is useful especially during our difficult times when justice is the hot topic, racial justice or social justice, in particular.  The USCCB website is helpful in this regard; for example, it says:

Habakkuk is the only prophet to devote his entire work to the question of the justice of God’s government of the world. In the Bible as a whole, only Job delivers a more pointed challenge to divine rule. Habakkuk’s challenge is set up as a dialogue between the prophet and God, in which Habakkuk’s opening complaint about injustices in Judean society is followed by God’s promise that the perpetrators will be punished by invading Chaldeans, i.e., Babylonians. Habakkuk’s second complaint about the violence of the Chaldeans themselves is followed by a second divine response assuring the prophet of the reliability of God’s rule and calling for human faithfulness. This dialogue is followed by a series of observations on the disastrous nature of tyranny, and by a vivid description of God’s appearance to save the people. 

Like Habakkuk we question the justice of God’s government of the world, assuming God has that governing control.   We complain about injustices in American society.  We understand the disastrous nature of tyranny, or at least we should in 2020.  Will there be a divine response?  Perhaps, if we consider and act on the work of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in its November 2018 document: “Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love - A Pastoral Letter Against Racism.”  It was developed by the USCCB Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church.  Below are a few paragraphs.  

Racism occurs because a person ignores the fundamental truth that, because all humans share a common origin, they are all brothers and sisters, all equally made in the image of God. When this truth is ignored, the consequence is prejudice and fear of the other, and—all too often—hatred. Cain forgets this truth in his hatred of his brother. Recall the words in the First Letter of John: “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him” (1 Jn 3:15). Racism shares in the same evil that moved Cain to kill his brother. It arises from suppressing the truth that his brother Abel was also created in the image of God, a human equal to himself. 

Every racist act—every such comment, every joke, every disparaging look as a reaction to the color of skin, ethnicity, or place of origin—is a failure to acknowledge another person as a brother or sister, created in the image of God. In these and in many other such acts, the sin of racism persists in our lives, in our country, and in our world. 

Racism comes in many forms. It can be seen in deliberate, sinful acts. In recent times, we have seen bold expressions of racism by groups as well as individuals. The re-appearance of symbols of hatred, such as nooses and swastikas in public spaces, is a tragic indicator of rising racial and ethnic animus. 

All too often, Hispanics and African Americans, for example, face discrimination in hiring, housing, educational opportunities, and incarceration. Racial profiling frequently targets Hispanics for selective immigration enforcement practices, and African Americans, for suspected criminal activity. There is also the growing fear and harassment of persons from majority Muslim countries. 

Extreme nationalist ideologies are feeding the American public discourse with xenophobic rhetoric that instigates fear against foreigners, immigrants, and refugees. Finally, too often racism comes in the form of the sin of omission, when individuals, communities, and even churches remain silent and fail to act against racial injustice when it is encountered.

Divine justice only will be possible if we stop acting like Babylonians or Cain and behave like Good Samaritans.  Better yet – like Jesus Christ.  After all, we are his Body.

Deacon David Pierce